YouTube Pilates or something similar- waste of time ?

[TellySavalashairbrush]

I’ve been advised by my osteopath that it would be of benefit for me to start Pilates. I live in London and the prices are astronomical per session here. Have any of you used online videos as a complete beginner for Pilates ? Or should I scrimp and save to do a proper class?

Did they just say pilates, rather than yoga or Pilates?
I’ve done both but now do just yoga and can recommend Yoga with Kassandra and Fightmaster Yoga on YouTube. Both do videos of various lengths starting from just 10 mins, to ease yourself in gently, going up to 90 +mins.

I can recommend a patreon trainer who has loads of proper 1hr pilates videos.

He is a personal trainer and proper pilates teacher. I used him as a PT and also attended his pilates classes in person for a while.

He also does live zoom classes several times a week. He's very good.

Let me know if you want his details.

I would get in person lessons as you want to ensure that your form and alignment are correct to prevent any injuries

On the other hand if you want something short and sweet, Lottie Murphy, Jessica Valantes are v good.

If you’re a complete beginner, take a course of at least 10 in person matwork sessions first. Getting your breathing and alignment correct will make any online sessions worthwhile - they would be almost pointless if not done properly, or actively damaging if you’re turning to look at your tv because you di t know what to do. Go to lessons to learn the terminology and get the muscle memory working. From there, you can move to live online classes. Most free online Pilates is not a full class by the way - you have to pay for the full session. Even in London it’s possible to find reasonably priced group matwork sessions.

I really enjoy Pilates with Nicole on YouTube. But as others have said, you need to learn the basics in a class first. Small mistakes in your form can render the exercises completely pointless or even damaging.

I took up Pilates over twenty years ago on the advice of a spine surgeon and would not recommend starting Pilates by watching an online video. You can damage yourself if your alignment and form are not correct, especially as sometimes you think you are doing it right when you're not. Initially spend your money on a class with about eight people max, then you will be able to join a larger, cheaper class after you learn correct form.

Check out clairelouisepilates - I do her classes, but she has a larg e library of videos you can access for £10 a month. Well worth it. Lots of beginner classes, and you can do when you want

We don't have any in person Pilates classes anywhere near where we live, so I've been doing Rachel Lawrence's classes on YouTube. Her channel is The Girl With The Pilates Mat. She explains each exercise thoroughly, and says which ones are for beginners, intermediate, or advanced.

There's videos specifically for easing back pain, which I suffer from. So far I've found her videos have really helped me.

I can see that not doing them right could cause more problems, but she does take time to explain what you need to do to get them right.

As a beginner, especially if you have niggles/ injuries, it is worth starting with face to face lessons. When you know what moves are without looking and know the feel of good form, then online is a decent way to maintain the exercise long term.

When you begin, it's easy to copy shapes and put yourself out of alignment to get the look which defeats the purpose of the positions as you're not engaging the right muscle groups appropriately.

I'm a fan of The Girl With The Pilates Mat on YouTube too.

She's easy going and has lots of variety.